Growing Exponentially
by tpchicken
Summary: Charlie discovers a new problem just as a new case expands into a developing situation for both Don and Charlie.
1. Discovery

Author's note: Welcome to my first Numb3rs fic! I never thought I'd actually write for this, but when inspiration strikes, the pen starts moving. I hope you enjoy. More at the bottom.

And of course a Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs or anything related. Nor am I profiting from this, except maybe my mind is expanding, but I don't think you can win that in a lawsuit!

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Charlie awoke. He was laying on his back on top of the covers of his bed. The textbook he must have been working with last night when he fell asleep was open, half on his chest, half on the bed. He lifted his head off the pillow to survey the damage his sleep had caused. Math notes and what unfortunatly looked like term papers were strewn across the room, on the floor, covering his desk and on his bed. They rustled quietly from the breeze created by the ceiling fan. He lay still for a while trying to calculate how fast it needed to spin to create a breeze that would blow the rest of the papers off his bed, or at least the ones he wasn't laying on.

Noises from the kitchen downstairs brought Charlie out of his current train of thought. He guessed that his father was making breakfast. It was a logical conclusion until he turned his head to look at his alarm clock. It was almost 11:45am! A wave of panic hit Charlie; he couldn't remember if it was Monday or Tuesday. He had come up to his room to grade papers and get away from his father and brother as they watched a baseball game on Saturday afternoon. That had been a couple of days ago, and he had kind of gotten lost in the numbers again.

If today were Monday, it would be okay because he had no classes to teach, he was just having lunch with Amita to go over parts of her thesis. But if today was Tuesday he was in big trouble because not only had he missed his lunch with Amita, but also he had a noon class. A noon class that would be expecting graded term papers back, the same papers that were strewn across his bedroom.

He leapt off his bed and ran to the top of the stairs. "Dad! Is it Monday or Tuesday?" he yelled.

"Monday," his Dad, Alan, called from the kitchen.

"Oh thank Heavens!" Charlie sighed under his breath and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Does this mean you're rejoining the land of the living?" Alan asked. He waited a bit and called Charlie's name again, but was only met with the sound of running shower water, which was good enough for him.

Meanwhile, Charlie had started the shower running, but it was not his present concern. Last Thursday he had noticed a small bump on his right let where it met his hip and had guessed that a bug had bit him while he was working in the garage or something. He had waited for it to go away. Now it was Monday and not only had it not gone away, but it was bigger and tender to his touch. He was still certain it wasn't a big deal, but he decided to ask his dad if he had any cream he could rub on it or something after he got out of the shower.

Alan was just finishing up the world's best meatball sandwich when Charlie came down the stairs. "Do you want a sandwich?" he asked his son.

"No thanks, Dad, I've got a lunch appointment with Amita at 1:15," Charlie explained as he poured himself a mug of coffee. He fiddled with the mug a bit before bringing up the question with his dad. "Um, Dad? Do we have any medicine for spider or bug bites? I think something bit me while I was out in the garage."

"I'm not sure, son. Let me have a look at it."

"No! Its kind of in a sensitive spot!"

"Where?"

Charlie pointed to the spot on his leg near his hip.

"Charlie," Alan started calmly, resting a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. "I am your father and I am a man. You don't have anything I don't have, or haven't already seen. Now come on, I can't help you unless I take a look at it."

Charlie finally relented to his father's wishes and pulled down his pants, exposing the lump on his leg. He wasn't sure why he found this whole situation so embarrasing, but he did. He didn't watch as his father examined him, choosing rather to stare at the ceiling and recite prime numbers in his head, but by doing so he missed the growing concern on his father's face.

"Charlie, I don't think this is a bug bite. There is no puncture mark or anything," Alan observed. "I don't like it. I think we'd better take you to the doctor."

"Dad! No! I've, I've got things to do, and, and…"

"Charlie, don't fight me on this, now go get in the car!"

"But I'm meeting Amita for lunch!"

"You can meet her later, but we'll both feel better about this after I take you to the doctor."

"Oh all right," Charlie gave in. He went to go call Amita as his dad grabbed the car keys.

XXX

Don Epps was having a particular heinous day. What should have been an open and shut case was not only still open, but it had become exponentially more complicated. What had started as a routine drug bust turned into a major drug operation with terrorist ties. That's when the FBI had been called in. Now they were tracking the flow of illegal drugs back to the source. Charlie had stopped in to help last week, using math problems to track possible locations and directions of drug flow through the city, but studying Charlie's work five days later, Don couldn't make heads or tails of it. He was just thinking about calling his little brother when Terry popped her head in.

"Don, we've just gotten confirmations on three more drug spots. Do you thing Charlie can plug them into his formula?"

"I was just about to call him with some questions of my own. I'll ask," Don reached for his phone and dialed the house. He was surprised to get the answering machine. Normally on Mondays at least one Epps man was home. He hung up and dialed Charlie's cell phone. After a few rings the line was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Dad?" Don was surprised to hear his father's voice. "I thought I dialed Charlie's phone."

"You did. He's just finishing up with the doctor. He should be out in a second," Alan explained.

Don was taken aback. "Why is Charlie at the doctor's?"

"Well," Alan started but stopped. "Wait a second Don, Charlie's out." Alan had pulled the phone away, but Don could still hear them speaking.

"Ready?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, I just need to schedule a biopsy for Wednesday."

"A biopsy? But Charlie, what happened?" Don could hear the concern in his father's voice.

"Can we talked about it later? I just want to get out of here," Charlie's haggled voice replied.

"Sure son. Oh, your brother is on the phone."

"Tell him I'll call him back, okay?"

Alan put the phone back to his ear as Charlie walked to the scheduling desk. "He's going to have to call you back Don."

"Dad, what's going on? Is Charlie okay?" Don could hear the panic in his own voice. He knew the word biopsy well from his mother's own bought with cancer just over a year ago. Several horrible situations arose in his mind, each one worse that the last.

"Don, maybe you should come home for dinner tonight," Alan replied.

"I'm coming now if I can. I'll see you soon," Don hung up the phone and started collecting papers off his desk. He had totally forgotten that Terry was even there until she spoke.

"Don, what happened?" he was thankful for the concern in her face and voice.

"Dad took Charlie to the doctor's. I'm not sure why, but I heard the word biopsy."

Terry walked over and sat on the edge of Don's desk. She put her hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back in his chair so their eyes met. "Don, just because Charlie needs a biopsy does not mean that he has cancer, nor does it mean he is going to die like your mother."

"I know. But what if he does have it? What if he does…" he let his voice trail away. He didn't trust himself to say those words. He didn't want to think about what happened to his mother, that it could now happen all over again. He didn't want to think if he and his dad could survive that again. He snapped out of that train of thought. He needed to keep his head in the game.

"Look Terry, can you cover for me? Say I've gone to consult with Charlie about his findings or something. I don't want anything getting out until I know exactly what's wrong."

"Sure thing, Don."

"Thanks," and with that he gathered up the last of his notes and headed for his car.

XXX

When Don walked through the front door he found his father on the living room couch, nursing a cup of something that looked like scotch, staring at that spot in the room. It was the spot where they had kept mom when she had gotten so bad she couldn't make it upstairs anymore, where she lay before she went to the hospital for good. Don walked in and sat down next to his father.

"Dad, what happened?"

Alan let the floodgates open and related how they found the lump on Charlie's leg, that the doctors wanted to take a closer look since it looked like an infected lymphnode. "We should know by Friday if, if…" Alan couldn't finish the sentence. It took all his might to hold back the tears.

"Dad," Don comforted him. "Charlie isn't going to die, we'll get through this together. Don't worry." He put a reassuring arm around his father and hoped he sounded more confident then he actually was. "Where is Charlie anyways?"

"In the garage."

"How's he holding up?"

"Well he hasn't reverted back to that P thingie yet, so that's a good sign."

"I'm going to go check on him."

Alan nodded. "Hey Don?" Don turned around. "Thanks for being such a good son and brother." Don gave his dad a weak smile and headed towards the garage.

He found Charlie working there as if nothing horrible had happened today. He had a piece of chalk behind his right ear and one in his hand. The dust streaked his face and clothing. Charlie was checking his work on the board against some notes he had made earlier and was not aware of his brother's presence until Don spoke.

"Anything new?" Don asked openly.

"No, just rechecking some things on the last drug figures. Anything new with you?"

"Terry sent you some more data to plug in, and I had some questions about the projected hot spots where we haven't found activity yet. How you holding up?"

"Oh I'm fine."

"Charlie," Don gave him a stare which Charlie knew meant 'I'm your older brother and you can't hide things from me.'

"Dad told you didn't he."

"Yeah, he did."

"Oh" Charlie went silent and returned to checking his numbers.

"Charlie, you can't just ignore this away, you know."

Charlie looked back at his brother, "I know. I'm not, really! I just, well, don't want to worry until we know exactly what it is. Statistically I'm probably just fine."

"That's optimistic, that's good." Don strode over to his brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Don," Charlie said in a quiet, wavering voice.

"Yeah buddy?"

"Dad said this morning that we'd both feel better after we went to the doctor's. Well you know what?"

"What's that?"

"I don't feel better," Don could see the tears weld up in Charlie's eyes, and he could only bring his brother into a hug.

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The return of the Author's note: I just wanted to let ya'll know that this is actually based on a real life experience I had while I was living in German serving a mission for my church. I was living with 3 other women, and my good friend Holly had this situation happen to her. Poor thing had to go back to the states for treatment, but she recovered and we all learned something from the experience. Her story was a bit more complicated though since she lost the packet that contained all her medical records and her biopsy slides the night before she was to return to the states. It sort of got lost in with the mail and was sent to the post office, but we managed to get it back. It was all a trying experience.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this so far, and would like to express your feeling in a review! Thanks so much for reading and look forward to the next installment!


	2. Treatment

Author's note: Oh my gosh you guys, thanks so much for the reviews! They were a big help in the direction this story went. I'm glad you all liked it. This has been interesting for me; I've really tried to do a little research about cancer and chemotherapy. So I hope this is believable. So with not much else to say except, the powers of be, please don't sue me….

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The next week the three Epps men sat once again waiting in a doctor's office. Don not thrilled that they had to be there at all, but was thankful that he could be there for his brother. It had taken some doing at work to get some time off to be with his brother. Don had had to haggle and beg, and he suspected that if this hadn't been Charlie, who had helped them so much as of late, that the FBI wouldn't have let him go so easily. As it was he was still getting daily reports from his team on the drug scandal. It seemed at least for now that work wasn't going to be too much of a problem, they were still fact finding to work their way to the top of the drug ring food chain.

His current concern though was Charlie. Don hadn't been able to attend the meeting with the doctor after the biopsy. The news hadn't been good. The slap in the face was when Alan and Charlie learned that the biopsy had indeed been positive, his lymph node in his right leg had been infected and cancer had been growing there. That enough had struck both men speechless. But the punch in the stomach had been to find out that the cancer hadn't originated there, but rather had grown from the primary source. More tests had been needed to deduce where the cancer had started.

Don had come over to his brother's house and learned the crushing news. He couldn't understand why they were going through this again so close to losing their mother. The mood in the household had been tense. Charlie brooded for days. Alan wouldn't let him escape to the garage, so he sat on the floor in the living room, pouring over things for school and equations for Don as he tried to ignore the fact that his father kept checking on him every 15 min. Alan had confided in Don that he felt like he didn't want Charlie out of his site for fear that he might actually disappear and they would never see him again.

All this had brought them back to the doctor's. Charlie had gone through several tests to find the primary source of the cancer and they were waiting for the results. It was a very tense situation for them. Don was more nervous than he had been in awhile, he couldn't imagine how Charlie was feeling. He scanned the room again for the umpteenth time, searching for anything to distract him from the fact that his baby brother was sick.

Alan was sitting on Charlie's right, with Don on his left. He had placed a fatherly hand on Charlie's shoulder, partly for support and partly to make him feel better. If he could feel Charlie, then he knew that he was still alright. It made him feel a bit childish to think that something so simple was keeping him going. The hardest part about losing his wife was not being able to touch and feel her. Charlie was a lot like his mother, and now Alan was afraid that he wouldn't be able to feel him either.

Finally after what seemed like ages, the doctor returned to his office and greeted the Epps men.

"I've got better news," he began. "We've located the primary source of the cancer. It seems to have originated in your colon and then from there traveled to your leg. We're very fortunate. It seems that we've caught the cancer pretty early. Now that we understand what it is, I can recommend an aggressive treatment."

"How aggressive?" Don asked.

"We can perform a surgery to clean out most of the cancer, and then I recommend chemotherapy treatments. I believe it's the best way to clear out the cancer. If all goes well, you could have a quick recovery. Of course there'll be side effects to the treatment, but the end results will be good."

"So he has a good chance of recovery?" Alan asked.

"I'd say about 90, yes, that's an excellent chance. Like I said, we caught this early, and that's giving you a big boost on your chances."

Alan felt more relieved than he had in the last week and a half, everything was going to be okay, and he wasn't going to lose his son. "When should we schedule the surgery?" he asked.

"We can set it up in the next couple of days. I recommend that Charlie take at least a day or two to prepare, get affairs at school and such in order while he's recovering. We will also give you all some literature to read, so you are more informed as to what you can do to support Charlie."

"That shouldn't be a problem, shouldn't it, Charlie?" Don looked at his silent brother. He had just realized that Charlie hadn't been speaking since they got there, and now he had that concerned look in his eyes, the one that said 'I'm nervous or scared about something.'

"Charlie?" Don asked again.

"Huh? What?" Charlie came out of his thoughts.

"School, can you take care of your classes at school?"

"Oh, yeah, we're at the end of the semester anyways. Amita has the finals already, and we worked it out that she can administer them and grade them. Larry will send the grades in for me. I'm free till the fall." Charlie explained.

"Good," said Alan. "We can concentrate on you then."

"Mmm," mumbled Charlie. "Can we go now?"

"Yes," said the Doctor. "We'll see you soon for the surgery."

Charlie got up and exited the room quickly. Don and Alan thanked the doctor and hurried after him. They waited till after they had scheduled everything and were back to the car to confront him on his mood. But after a few attempts they realized that he wasn't ready to open up to them about his feelings, so instead they inadvertently distracted him with an innocent question that resulted into a full blown math explanation that neither of them understood. And while it was confusing to hear Charlie talk, it was also comforting to know that he was still their Charlie, cancer or none.

XXX

Charlie thought this is what dying must be like. He was four days into the chemotherapy treatments. The doctor explained that the treatments would last 5 days and then he would get a two week break. Because the surgery had gone so well, the doctor was hoping that Charlie would only need two or three rounds of the chemo treatments. The surgery hadn't been so bad, and Charlie had started to think that he was going to be able to handle all this with no problems, but even though he had been warned about the side effects of the treatments, it wasn't until he started to experience them did he realize the pounding his body was taking.

Every day for the five days of treatment, Charlie would go to the hospital and they would hook him up to an IV that would give him the treatment. He was kind of tired of people prodding him after all that had happened, but tried to remain calm. It was only their jobs after all.

The side effects were awful. At first it was just fatigue, but then he started feeling very nauseous. Occasionally he'd brake out into coughing fits that were extremely unpleasant. But the real insult to injury happened after day two. The doctor had explained that there was a chance that he wouldn't lose his hair. Charlie wasn't a vain person, but he loved his curly hair, it made him different from everyone else in the family. He had really hoped that his hair wouldn't fall out, but after the second day it started to come out in chunks and Charlie had been crushed. His father and brother insisted it would grow back and tried to reassure Charlie that it'd be okay in the end, but it was hard to keep things in perspective when your hair was falling out.

Now on day four as Charlie lay in the hospital, he closed his eyes and concentrated on something other than what was happened to his body. He wondered how finals had gone. He thought about the current drug case Don was working on. He calculated problems in his head. He just didn't want to dwell on what was happening. He didn't want to think about how weak he had become or that his insides seemed to be staging a mutiny on him or that his hair was gone and he was covering his very bald head with a bandana. He thought about good things and math and knew that he only had one more day to go and this stage would be over.

He was very thankful when Don entered the room. His dad and Don had taken turns taking Charlie to the hospital. It gave Don a chance to go to work every other day and Alan took the time cleaning the house or resting when Don drove. His older brother walked up to where Charlie lay and smiled.

"How's it going buddy?" he asked his little brother.

"It's no day at the beach, or a math conference," Charlie replied.

Don laughed, "Only you would think going to a math conference would be fun, and besides the beach is so crowded this time of year with tourists."

"Yeah, I'd probably sun burn my head too," Charlie said. He tried to continue but was cut off by a fit of coughing and sickness.

"Are you okay?" Don asked.

"I guess so."

Charlie could feel his brother's gaze upon him. Suddenly the guilt welded up in him and he dared to ask a question that had been on his mind since the first time he had his dad had gone to the doctor's.

"Hey Don?"

"Yeah Charlie?"

"Do you think I'm being punished?"

"What? No! Why would you think such a thing?"

"I just thought maybe I was being punished for not seeing mom before she died," Charlie's voice died off into a whisper. At the time of his mother's illness and death, it seemed so logical to hide away and work on math, but now he wondered if somehow not being there for his mom had created some divine retribution.

"Charlie," Don didn't know where to begin. "Charlie, this has nothing to do with mom. Don't even think that. Mom understood you. She would never want this for you, no matter what you do. Don't even think that."

"I just…" Charlie began.

"Shhh," Don placed a hand on his brother's head. "Don't think it. Now try to rest. I can take you home soon."

"Okay," Charlie replied. He closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate on the numbers.

XXX

It was the second Monday since the first round of Charlie's chemo. Don walked into the office on that bright Monday prepared to get in a full week of work before Charlie started the second round of treatment. The drug case was still progressing at snail speed and Don hoped to make some headway this week. Some big busts could really help them with the brass upstairs, who had cut him some slack due to Charlie's illness, but now were ready to see results.

He walked into the office to find David and Terry already there. They were having a heated discussion about the computer program they were using to plug information of flow of drug distribution into Charlie's equations. When Don entered the room, they both looked up and greeted him.

"Don, hi! How's Charlie doing?" Terry asked.

"Better this week, but he's not looking forward to the treatments again. I'm going to go see him at lunch time if you'd like to come with," Don offered.

"That would be nice," Terry accepted.

"My dad would like that too. I think Charlie's starting to drive him nuts, he's a little cooped up with nothing to do."

Terry laughed as Don looked in on what they were working on. The work progressed quickly and before they knew it they were both in Don's SUV driving to his house.

When they got there they found Alan making lunch in the kitchen. They could hear Charlie's animated voice floating down from upstairs.

"Hi Dad!" Don greeted his father.

"Hello Don, Terry," Alan replied. "I'm just finishing packing lunch for you two; I know how busy things are."

"Thanks so much, Mr. Epps," Terry said.

"Alan, please."

"Alan then, thank you."

"You're very welcome," Alan smiled at Terry.

"Dad, that isn't Larry up there bothering Charlie when he's suppose to be resting, is it?"

"No of course not!" Alan replied. "It's Amita."

"That might be worse!" Terry joked.

Don and Terry made there way upstairs to Charlie's room. They peeked through the half open door. Charlie was propped up in bed, the covers over his lower half, math notes and books scattered the room. Amita was half sitting, half leaning on Charlie's pillows and they were having a disagreement about a particular equation on Amita's thesis. Don and Terry entered the room unbeknownst to the two, and Don cleared his throat to get their attention. Immediately Amita shot up and away from Charlie. Charlie got a 'busted' look on his face and did his best to straighten up. Terry had to stifle a laugh.

"Is this resting?" Don asked.

"The cancer is in my butt, Don, not in my brain. Amita came over to drop some things off from my office and we kind of got carried away," Charlie quickly explained.

"I need to be off anyways," Amita excused herself. "I'll call later?"

"Sure," Charlie replied and smiled. "Thanks for the things."

"Anytime!" Amita retreated down the steps.

"What is this anyways?" Terry asked.

"It's the notes from the drug case," Charlie explained.

"Charlie, you don't need to be worrying about this," Don scolded.

"No, Don, its okay. I had an idea. We're tracking the flow of the drugs, right? That way we're hoping that we can trace them back to the terrorist. Then I started thinking, why not track them through money too? Here, I set up some equations," Charlie started pulling sheets of paper out of a notebook.

"Wait a second, Charlie. I'm not following you," Don said.

Terry seemed to understand though, "We're not finding money at every bust, right? That means the money exchanges hands differently than the drugs!"

"Right!" Charlie exclaimed. "So if you track the exchange of money and the exchange of drugs, you've got two paths to follow to the terrorists, not just one."

"This is good!" said Don. "You should still be resting, but this is good. Are these completed?"

"Yes," replied Charlie.

"Then we'll take them back and have David input them into the computer program. Thanks buddy! Now, maybe you should get some rest?"

"Okay, I'm really not tired though…"

"Charlie, close your eyes and be quiet!" Don commanded. Charlie sidled back down beneath the covers and begrudgingly closed his eyes. Within minutes he was fast asleep, to weak and tired to do anything else. Don and Terry quieted excused themselves and collected their lunches from the kitchen.

Once outside Terry ventured to comment. "He doesn't look to good, does he?"

"Not really."

"He'll be okay," it was more of a question than a statement, but Terry wasn't sure what to think.

"I hope so. He's such a big help, and he's my brother. Even though I spent all that time away after high school trying to get away from him, I don't know what I'd do without him now."


	3. Process

Author's note: This chapter is about half as short as I normally write, and I'm sorry. Its just that I didn't want to put what happens next with this, and I admit to a small amount of writer's block tonight. Even so, I hope you enjoy it. We're going to see an end to Charlie's illness soon, and Don's case will come into the foreground. I hope the story will still be interesting.

And for all you shippers out there, I just have to say that I'm not really good at writing the lovey duvey stuff. Any C/A or D/T you get out of this is purely coincidental. Sorry.

So I'm tired of disclaiming, so just read, enjoy and maybe review? Thanks!

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Charlie had not been prepared for what was happening. It was Wednesday, the third day of the second round of chemo treatments. He had started the second round with some confidence that he knew the drill, but he hadn't factored in how weak his body had become and the second round had attacked with a brutality. After Don had brought him home on Tuesday, he didn't even have the strength to clime the stairs to his bedroom. He had fallen down on the couch in the living room and passed out.

The nausea was so much worse this time that Charlie wasn't able to eat either. He had kept down some water and chicken broth, but anything more substantial was a lost cause. When Alan brought Charlie in on Wednesday the doctor had confided in the older Epps that if Charlie didn't get more nourishment, they might have to admit him into the hospital. That had scared Alan, and he had vowed to make sure Charlie was nourished. Keeping him in the hospital was too close to what had happened to his wife, and he wasn't sure he could handle it, no matter how good Charlie's chances at survival were.

It was almost a lost cause. Charlie had claimed the couch as his own and they had worked to make it as comfortable as possible. At the moment he lay on his side, his eyes filled with tears from the pain and coughing. His father begged him to drink some water, but he wasn't sure if he could move. Getting through the next two days was his only goal. If he could survive that long, he might be free from the cancer. Or he might have to wait two more weeks for a third treatment. He focused on staying strong. Mentally he pictured himself beating the cancer. He calculated what was required to do so. He was going to live, even if it killed him.

XXX

That same afternoon, Don, Terry and David were at a coffee shop near the FBI offices having a late lunch. It was more of a working lunch as the three compared notes on the drug case. Charlie's new equations had really helped. They knew they were really close to cracking this one when they all started to receive threatening letters from the terrorists. If they were worried enough to confront the FBI, then they knew they were close.

Don had become slightly worried when he went over to check on Charlie and noticed that Charlie was also receiving the letters. They were laying with the other mail, and Don guessed that they hadn't been touched due to Charlie's illness. He quietly pocketed them, not wanted to worry Alan or Charlie. They were going to get these guys, and his family already had enough to worry about. Something did nag at the back of Don's mind about the whole situation, but he was there to keep them safe. It was going to be okay.

They had just finished up and sent David to pay the bill as Terry and Don collected their coats and walked outside. They stepped quickly back to the office, hoping to get there and make some finishing plans on the day. They were so involved in their planning that they failed to be aware of their surroundings as they should have been. It wasn't until David yelled at them did they notice.

As David stepped out of the café, he noticed the dark SUV roll down its windows. Recognizing the danger of men positioning guns at them, he called to his fellow officers and dove back inside the shop as the bullets started flying. Don reacted first, grabbing Terry and spinning into an open alleyway. He flattened Terry out against the outside of the building and covered her with his own body trying to be as flesh against the wall as they could be. After a moment the gunfire stopped and the squelch of tires was heard as the SUV rounded the corner.

Don let out the breath he was holding and looked down at Terry. Quickly he stepped back, giving the other agent room to breath. David came running after them.

"Anyone hurt?" he asked.

"No, were fine," replied Don. "Any casualties?"

"No, thankfully that café has very few windows. And I got a license plate number," said David.

"Good," he looked back at Terry. Her face was very flush. "You okay?"

"Yeah, we should really be more aware, that was close!"

"Agreed, but that means we've really scared them if they're trying to take us out. Lets get back to the office. We got some good info just now, and I want to check on Charlie and Dad."

The other two nodded their heads, and they hurried back.

XXX

Don had chosen not to mention the shooting episode to his family. He figured the less they knew the better. He was concerned to hear that his brother wasn't doing well at all. As much as Alan hated it, Charlie wasn't able to keep anything down now, even the water and broth, and it was decided that they had to take Charlie to the hospital before he became too dehydrated. Don had just been relieved to hear that no drive by shooting had occurred on their street.

The next couple of days were really hard on the entire family. They took shifts at the hospital caring for Charlie. Once in the hospital, he had gained some strength back and made it through the last two treatments. By Friday night he was talking and calculating again, even if he wasn't at a hundred percent. His conversations were short, but they mattered. Saturday morning, his father packed up all his stuff and took him back home.

Charlie still didn't feel up to tackling the stairs, so he continued to use the couch as a makeshift bed. But he was eating again and acting normal for Charlie, and that was good enough for Alan. Don put all work plans on hold until Monday and they spent the weekend as a family talking and playing games. Even sick, Alan and Don couldn't beat Charlie at chess, and it wasn't until Alan suggested he pull out the scrabble board that Charlie complained he felt tired. Sure he did feel tired, but the truth was he felt normal again, and that was the best feeling he had felt in a long time.


	4. Recovery

Author's note: Ya'll I am SOOOO sorry this too so long to write! I've had it in my head for ages, but well real life caught up with me. My best friend just had her second child, a little boy they named Blaine Asher Alexander. And I was there at the birth! It was sooo cool! And then, well I kind of been seeing a lot of this guy, so he's kept me busy. But I promise to finish this, just have patience with me. It will get done because I can't STAND IT when people start something and not finish it! Thanks so much for your support and reviews, they mean the world to me! So keep it up and I'll keep it up. Truth is I'm not yet sure where we're going from here, but it'll be good! Enjoy!

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It was Tuesday of the second week of rest for Charlie. In two days he would find out if he had to do another round of Chemo or if he was cancer free. He was seriously hoping for the latter to be true. It was a warm sunny day and Charlie and Alan sat on the back porch, Alan reading a book and Charlie working on some problems for Larry. He figured if he worried about other people's problems, his might not be such a big deal.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun had gone to the other side of the house, making the porch nice and cool. A low breeze blew and Charlie closed his eyes, letting the feeing of the wind rush past his face. Hopefully Don would be coming by later for dinner. Charlie knew the case was getting better by the day and the FBI was entrapping more of the higher up in the drug ring, but there were still threats. Charlie knew that Don had tried to keep the danger away from the family, but Saturday Charlie had gotten to the mail before his older brother had and found the threatening letters against him. He had kept it quiet, knowing if he let Don know he was worried, it would make Don worried.

After a while Alan got up and meandered into the kitchen to make dinner. Charlie started to doze off when his father came back outside and woke him. "Charlie, I'm missing some ingredients for dinner tonight. I'm going to run to the store for a minute or two, will you be alright by yourself?"

"Sure Dad, I can take care of myself, I'm an adult, just a tired one."

"Okay, I'll be back in a jiff."

Alan grabbed his car keys and headed out the front door. Charlie looked back down at the notes he had made for Larry. 'Maybe I'll get Amita to finish these' he thought as his eyelids slowly drifted back down. But it wasn't too long before his sleep was interrupted again. He heard the front door open again and assumed his father had forgotten something, but was surprised to find two young men entering his home. Remembering the letters, he started to get nervous, his eyes darting around looking for a hiding place.

The two men seemed to know where they were going as the headed back to the porch. "Professor Epps?" one of them asked.

Charlie took in a deep breath. These were Cal Sci students! Not his students though, so he wasn't sure why they were there.

"Yes?" Charlie answered. The two students were taken aback a bit by Charlie's appearance. He imagined he still looked a bit sick and weak.

"Professor Epps, I'm Rob and this is David, we're in, um, Professor Fleinhardt's class. I'm sorry, but he wanted us to come over and tell you that your office was broken into today," Rob explained.

"What?" Charlie was a little confused.

Rob continued, "Your office, it's a wreck. Was there anything there that someone might want to steal?"

"Um I don't think..." Charlie's brain was having a hard time processing the information, but David cut him off.

"Professor Fleinhardt said that you sometimes work for the FBI? Maybe was there any of your work for them there?"

"No," said Charlie, "I don't keep that stuff there, only when I'm there. I usually have it at home or at the FBI office."

"Oh," sighed Rob. Charlie missed a meaningful glance between the two boys when his phone rang. Charlie looked at the caller ID and picked it up.

"Hi Larry."

"Charles! I just called to tell you that someone broke into your office!"

"I know, the two students you sent to tell me are still here."

"What students?" Larry asked quizzically.

"Two young men, Rob and David? They said you sent them to tell me about the break in," Charlie looked up at the two men who started to look very twitchy and nervous to him.

"Charles, I didn't send anybody over, what's going on?"

"Um Larry, I'll tell you later. Will you do me a favor and call Don and tell him EVERYTHING, you understand?" Charlie was starting to feel nauseous again.

"I think so Charlie, be careful, okay?"

"I will, thanks Larry," Charlie hung up the phone and looked back at the two boys. He began to notice that they were both taller than he was and definitely more physical. Especially in his present condition. He sat up a little straighter in the chair.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked the two. They had seem to come to a decision while he was on the phone with Larry.

"Look Professor," David began. "We're sorry, but we've gotta do this." He pulled out a cloth from out of the backpack he'd been carrying. "We're in a lotta trouble with these people for not paying up, and if we don't bring them back something, well you understand right?"

"No," Charlie said. "If you know, why don't you go to the FBI yourselves?"

"It doesn't work that way," Rob explained as David came closer to Charlie. Charlie tried to back away. He thought about making a run for it, but in his present condition he wasn't sure what he could do. David was almost on top of him when Charlie finally decided to go for it, the worse that could happen was he'd get caught, and then he'd be back in the same place he was now anyways.

He stood up and threw the chair between him and David. It was too bad that it was two against one though because at the same moment Rob realized what Charlie was about to do and reached around and grabbed him from behind. Charlie tried to struggle, but his weakened body betrayed him. As he tried to call out David placed the cloth firmly against Charlie's mouth and nose. The world went very black.

XXX

Don was speeding home like there was no tomorrow. It had taken too long to comprehend what Larry was trying to explain to him, something about Charlie's office being broken into and two men at Charlie's house. The one thing Don did know was that it didn't sound like good news. He pulled up to the curb and lept out just as his Dad was pulling shopping bags out of the back of his car.

"Donnie! Your early," Alan began.

"Dad! Where's Charlie?"

"In the back, where I left him. He had two visitors from school come just as I was leaving and I let them know he was on the back porch."

Don cursed under his breath and ran for the house. Alan looked quizzically after him.

"Don? What's wrong?" groceries forgotten, Alan ran after his son. They were both stopped dead in their tracks when they got to the deck. The lawn furniture was toppled over and Charlie's notes we're scattered, blowing gently in the breeze. The blanket that he had been using lay crumpled on the ground, but Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh my god…" Alan said, clamping a hand over his mouth. "Don…"

"Dad, what did those two men look like?"

"They were students! They said they were from school…" panic arose in Alan's voice. "I left him, I thought he'd be alright…"

"Calm down Dad, this isn't your fault. It must have something to do with the case we're working on," Don flipped open his phone and dialed Terry. This was a bad, bad time for Charlie to go missing. They were so close. But it was obvious that these two we're not professionals, and from what Larry had said, Don guessed that they were probably drug users that owed something big. Maybe by grabbing Charlie they hoped to pay off whatever debt they owed.

"Lake," Don heard Terry's voice over the phone.

"Terry, its Don. We've got a potential kidnapping. Can you come over to Charlie's house?"

"Don? What's going on? Is everyone okay?"

"Charlie's missing," Don could hear his own voice betray his worry, but he tried to remain strong for his father. "I really need you here."

"I'll collect David and we're there," Don heard Terry snap her phone shut. He looked back in the worry in his dad's face.

"We'll find him Dad."

"Donnie, he starts Chemo again on Monday! If the tumor isn't already gone he has to start again Monday! If we don't find him…"

Alan felt faint and sat down where he was. Don knelt down beside his father and comforted him. "We'll find him Dad. We're not going to let Charlie get worse. But I need your help. You're the only one who saw the kidnappers. Do you think you can give a good description?"

Alan nodded. He had to, for Charlie.


	5. Danger

Author's note: Ya'll must think I'm such a LOSER. I go on about how much I hate it when people don't finish stories, and then I disappear for months. I promise I have a good excuse. In just under 6 weeks I'm getting married. I got engaged in August and been busy planning my wedding. Its wonderful, but time consuming. So I apologize, and hope to have time to finish this soon, but I promise I will eventually finish!

This'll be short because I wanted mostly to update ya'll and apologize. More soon! Reviews please?

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Don walked into the living room and handed his father a cup of tea to calm him down. For the past 30 min. Alan had been berating himself for leaving Charlie alone and for not paying more attention to the two men he casually let come into their home. He had given Don a description of the men and their car as best he could, but he had been more worried about dinner, and hadn't really given them a second thought at the time.

Worst case scenarios filled Alan's mind. He could think of several different ways that Charlie would be killed, from the cancer slowly spreading again through his body, to the men who had taken him outright shooting him. Fear and pain clenched his heart. It would be crushing to lose Charlie to a bullet after everything they had just gone through with the cancer.

Don seemed to read his father's mind and put a reassuring arm around him. "It'll be okay Dad. These weren't professionals, they were kids. Terry and David are talking with the neighbors, it's going to be easy to find him. We'll get him back, okay?"

"Okay," was the only thing Alan could get out. Just then David and Terry walked through the front door. Don stood up and met them in the foyer.

"Anything?" Don asked.

"Oh yeah, you've got very observant neighbors, we've got full descriptions of the boys, their car, a partial license plate and what direction they head out in," said David.

"I've called it in, we've got two names, and one of the boy's father owns an abandoned warehouse across town that might be a potential meeting place between them and the drug dealers. Its right in the hot bed of a lot of the current action we've been recording," explained Terry.

Don thought it over, "It sounds good to me, let's check it out, the quicker we can find Charlie, the quicker I can stop my father from having a heart attack."

XXX

Charlie struggled to regain consciousness. His fuzzy mind tried to recall the events because he couldn't figure out why it was so cold, or why he was laying on the ground. He wondering if maybe he collapsed in the garage and no one had found him yet, but that didn't seem very likely. His body was very weak, and he couldn't open his eyelids. Suddenly nausea overwhelmed him and he vomited violently on the floor. Tears came to his eyes, and he remembered what had happened.

He could hear voices arguing. He guessed that only Rob and David were out there, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. As he regained movement in his arms and legs he slowly pushed himself up and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a small room, what looked like an office, in a cold warehouse. The room had a big window that he could look out of onto the warehouse stockroom. He cautiously tried the door handle and finding it locked, he peered carefully out the window, so that he wouldn't be noticed by either boy.

Suddenly one of the boys stared straight at the window, motioning to the other one angrily about something. Charlie backed away quickly, but then realized that it was one of those one way window/mirror things and neither boy could see that he was awake. He looked around again and saw a small window. He rushed over to it and tried to open it, but found that it was jammed. He cursed inwardly. He could try and break the window, but the noise would surely alert the boys to his awaken status.

Before he could think of anything else, the squeal of tires startled Charlie and he crept back to the window. Three big men got out of a large sedan and walked towards the boys. Charlie could see how nervous they were, and he strained to hear what was being said.

"Did you get the papers?" the first big man asked.

"Well… No," replied Rob.

The second big man darted out from behind the first and grabbed Rob by the front of his tee shirt, lifting him off the ground. "What do you mean 'No' you knew the deal!"

"Yes," said the first, "It is very unfortunate."

"You don't understand!" started David, "The papers weren't in his office, we went to his house but…"

David was interrupted as the second man threw Rob into him.

"You knew the deal, you didn't deliver," said the first pulling out a gun.

"No! Wait!" pleaded Rob and David, but it was too late. The gun went off twice and a startled Charlie fell backwards. He couldn't believe what he saw. Nervously, he crept back to the window and peered out. He wasn't sure what the men were planning on doing, the seemed to be wandering around the warehouse. Charlie plead inwardly that they wouldn't find him. He couldn't see anything to defend himself, even if he was strong enough to do so. The best thing he could do was curl up into a ball in the corner and hope he wasn't found.


	6. Drama

Author's note: Hi again. I'm going to get this done now, while I have a lull in the wedding planning! Thanks for all that are reading and reviewing. It really makes my day. I think we've got about one more chapter after this one. I feel bad that the chapters have gotten smaller, I think I'm taking less words to get my points across. Okay, enough chatter, read on people!

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Bobby enjoyed his job very much. He enjoyed killing and ruining people's lives as they sunk deeper into debilitating drug habits. He enjoyed trying to gun down FBI agents as they left from their afternoon meal. And he especially enjoyed the large sums of money he acquired by doing so.

Which is why he was having a pretty good day. He watched as his cohorts drug the lifeless bodies of the two young adults away and smirked at their foolishness. They had a task to perform and they failed. Nothing they could have brought him would have been as useful as Dr. Epps's notes, the ones the FBI was using to bring him down. He hated the FBI and he hated smart people who thought they could thwart him. Who were these people to interrupt his good day?

Taking a look around the warehouse, Bobby noticed a door next to a large mirror. Being very curious and also very vain, he strode up to mirror and examined his rugged features. Then he made his way over to the door, reaching for the handle and tried to turn it. Finding it locked, he grew extremely more curious.

"Bobby! Were done, let's get outta here!" Ed's voice called. Turning away from the door, Bobby returned to the car, disappointed that he didn't find out what was inside. On the other hand, they needed to leave before they were found.

Behind the door, Charlie exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. He couldn't even quantify how lucky he had just been. Had the man persisted in trying to open the door, he would have surely found Charlie and who knows what he might have done to him. Gathering all the strength in his weak body he lifted the wooden chair and with all his might, brought it crashing through the outside window at the precise time the three villains started their car and began their get away.

Gathering his breath for a moment and not waiting to see where the car was driving off to, Charlie carefully climbed the chair and lifted himself through the window to the outside. His getaway was almost perfect, except at the same time his feet landed on solid ground, a large dark sedan rounded the corner.

XXX

Don drove as fast as he could to the warehouse without risking his or his cohort's lives. He held onto the slim hope that Charlie would be there and still alive, if not they were staring at the proverbial dead end, and Don didn't like that thought at all. He rounded the last corner and pulled into the warehouse, just as a large dark sedan pulled out the other end.

Don tried to pull through the warehouse as best he could, as Terry raced to copy the sedan's license plate number. Stuck, Don stopped the car and raced out the other end of the warehouse after the sedan. He saw them turn the corner and drive around the building. Behind him Terry and David had also jumped out of the car. Don motioned for David to go around the other side of the building. It seemed that Terry had found something in the warehouse and was preoccupied. Don followed the car on foot to find it stopped in the alleyway next to the warehouse. There were at least three men standing next to the car, two bulkier men with guns threatening a wide-eyed Charlie.

"Stop right there!" screamed Don, training his gun on the man closest to Charlie. Behind the men he could see David doing the same with Terry close behind him.

"FBI! Put the weapons down!" he yelled again at the men.

"Don't think so Agent Epps, unless you want your brother here to suffer," Bobby yelled back.

"We'll kill him!" Ed screamed.

"Kill him and you'll definitely be dead," replied Don, "Let him go and we can make a deal."

Bobby looked from Charlie to Don. On the one hand, it would feel so good to go on a shooting spree, on the other hand he liked living. Motioning to Ed, they both slowly put their guns on the ground and lifted their hands in the air.

"Charlie!" called Don, and Charlie quickly ran behind the protection of his older brother. The three FBI agents slowly closed in on the men, momentarily forgetting about the man behind the drivers seat until the engine roared to life and the car came screeching haphazardly towards David and Terry.

"Look out!" Don warned as the two barely had time to duck out of the way. David fired two shots at the departing sedan and missed. In all the distraction, Ed took the opportunity to reach for his gun.

"Don, the man!" yelped Charlie. Don caught him in the knee-cap just in time before Ed could get a hand on his own gun.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," Terry told Bobby, pushing the muzzle of her own gun into the small of his back. She pushed him into the wall and cuffed him, reading his rights. David came back to the others and helped Don with Ed after radioing for backup.

Don took a grateful look at his brother Charlie. "Are you okay?"

"I am now."


End file.
